Apple HomePod 2 teardown reveals a repairable, more sensibly-built speaker

iFixit shows a device held together by – get this – screws, not glue

(Credit: Creative Electron)

➡️ The Shortcut Skinny: A HomePod apart

• 🪛 HomePod 2 can be opened with screwdrivers and a pry tool, shows iFixit video

• 💣 iFixit’s HomePod 1 teardown was very difficult and destroyed the speaker

• 👍 Narrator concluded it was “surprisingly easy” to disassemble

• 🔥 Heat from right-to-repair folks probably helped make the HomePod 2 fixable

The HomePod 1 was an onerous smart speaker when it comes to self-repair, thanks to copious amounts of glue that necessitated either paying Apple for out-of-warranty repairs for older units or shipping them overseas to correct faults. That looks to have changed now that the HomePod 2 is here.

The ever-fascinating iFixit YouTube channel published the above video yesterday showing a nigh-glue-free HomePod 2 that can be disassembled without any destruction. The narrator referred to it as a “surprisingly easy device to dismantle,” strongly contrasting its attempted teardown video of the first HomePod, which resulted in the total destruction of Apple’s smart speaker. 

Yesterday’s teardown shows a nice slow-motion video of its lively bass speaker and provides a look at some of the components, including the same humidity sensor as the HomePod Mini and a huge heatsink that they observe seems oversized, but that it’s ideal for preventing or reducing any heat-related audio distortion that would otherwise occur as the amplifier heats up. Thank goodness they did it, because I certainly wasn’t going to try a teardown for my HomePod 2 review, which I’ll be wrapping up with full impressions later today.

(Credit: iFixit)

HomePod 2 teardown: right-to-repair pressure

The updated construction of the HomePod 2 is a boon for right-to-repair advocates, who have long railed against big tech for its frustrating practices that make its most popular products essentially impossible to repair and contribute to e-waste as customers choose to throw away their non-functional devices, rather than seek to fix them. 

Apple has made some strong steps toward improving repairability over the last few years amid investor pressure and the burgeoning right-to-repair advocacy, which has captured the attention of regulators, who are stepping up enforcement on home repair-impeding manufacturing practices.